Self-adjusting tension means



W. F. GRUPE.

SELF ADJUSTING TENSION MEANS.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, I9I9. 1,391,185,

' PatentedSept. 20,1921.

1 IIIIII INVENTIOR BY. w? MW V I ATTORNEY W LIAM E.

BELT; CORPORATION,'INC., A; coREoEATioN or NEW YORK. j

sEE A JUs'rInG TENSION-MEANS? To all whomitmay concernii t I -Beit knownthat I, WILLIAM F. GRUP a citizen of the United States of America,

. residing at -Hudson Heights, .county Qf .r ic and serves to feed thecigarette making Bergen, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new.and useful Improvements in Self-Adjusting Tension Means, of which,

I'GSPOIlCllIlg Weight to provide auniversal the following is aspecification. This jnvention relates to self-ad u st1ng tension means.a

' In the, use of certain .types oflbelts, par

ticularlybeltssubjected to curved or angular deformationjsuch as beltsfor cigarette making'machinesit is desirable to attain apredeterminedjtensionin the belt and attempts have been heretofore madefor attaining such result,"but sucll heretofore proposed arrangementshave been ineffectual.

' Such heretofore proposed'arrangements are also defective by reason ofthe absence of the capability of1adjusting the tension from time totime, inaccordance withthe ,ClGSlIGCl.

requirements inthe operation of the belt.

In the use of feedingbelts for cigarette making machines, thejbeltfis ofwoven fabmaterials through'a so-called forming shoe whereby theinclosing paper a drh im; vclosed cigarette tobacco vare forcedby the;

shoe to 'be curved .into Cylindrical. shape,

causing the edges of thepaper to overlap,

atwhich statejadhesive is applied and the overlapping edges .secured toone, another to form a resultant cigarette of ndefinlte length ,.whichat a subsequent stage is cut intodesired lengths, the ordinaryindividu-- al cigarettes 'During the stage of curved formation of thecigarette materials, the belt is deformed as stated above, and ata laterstage assumes its normal 'uniplanar position..

' V I have discovered, that, order to effect proper feeding of the paperstrip and the cigarette tobacco conveyed 0n the paper strip, it isdesirable to maintain a certain g tension in the belt, effectiveparticularly for the portion of travel of the belt between the.

points of initial and final engagement of th'e'belt with the paperstrip. 1

.In carrying out my invention, I provide an idler carried by a suitablemovable support and means controlled by a regulatable weight forcontrolling the position of such idler whereby to regulate the tensionof the belt, the feedingof the paper strip and Specification-of Letterslatent. Pat t d 2 A application filed ma 31,

1919,. Serial No. 300,951.

cigarette tobacco and "the formation of the resultant cigarettes. Suchprovision of means operate to' automatically maintain ing elongation orother variationof the belt incidentt'ouse. The tension is adjustablesimply byjadpisting or. by replacing a corself adjusting tension" means;for varying;

- types of fabric belts and varying types of shoes or' formers.

GRUPE, 0E HUDSON" HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNoE'ro ENDLESS if suchpredetermined pressure notwithstand- Further features andobjects of' thes ini venti on will be. more fully v understood by the followingdescription and-accompanying draWiI gS,i nhicl1i 1 Figure. 1 is aperspective view of one embodiment of'm'y tension means in combinationwith ,a cigarette making machine, the partsof'such cigarette makingmachine be ing indicated diagrammatically;

F'g. 2 is a detail end elevation as viewed frornline 22 of Fig. 1, inthe direction of the indicated arrow; and

Fig. '3 is a side elevationof the .tension 7 1 means. i e I -Referringto-Figs. 1,2 and feeding beltisindicated at 1 and, as shown,- thepathoftravelof the beltl-uis about the driving wheel 2, -thence overthefixed, idler" 3, thence through -my tension adjusting means, indicatedgenerally at 4, thence over the guiding means 5, at which location-6 the.belt .1. r nakes initial contact with the paper.

3, the cigarette Strip7, onto whichis fedj by suitable feeding means thecigarette tobacco indicated at 8.. The forming shoev is'indicated at9,through which the belt 1 traVeIsand is. forced by the curvedv sides ofthe shoe to be curved, to. thereby cause-the paper strip and thecigarette tobacco 8* therein to be rolled and upon application ofsuitable adhesive the resultant cigarette of indefinite length 10 isformed The guide means 5 is preferably an anti-friction roller.'

The course of travel of the belt through the aforesaid regions of travelis indicated by the arrows 11. 2

Such tension means comprises the relatively fixed idler 12 rotatablymounted on the stud 13 carried by the side of'the cigarette makingmachine 14:. The tension adjusting idler 15, is preferably disposedbetween the idler 3 and the idler 12. Such idler 15 is mounted on thestud 16, tapped, into the plate 17. The plate 17 is a segment 1 hung onthe-stud13. Behindthe plate 1 7 "is provided the, plate 18,. which mayalso be hung on the stud 13, and positionedby means of the stud 19. TheStud 19 is pro vided with the exterior head 20. and

the guiding collar 21. Thesegment 17 isprovidedwith the arou--atejslot-22' through which projects the stud to the opinion 24 isthe-sheave '25, and'the" '19. The collar 21 serves as a guide for theedges of the arouate'i slot 22. The sector 17 is provided with the teeth23- at its arcuate edge, meshing with the pinion 24. 'Fixed pinion 24and sheave 25 are loosely mounted on the stud 26, having the externalhead 27 and retaining collar 28. The stud 26 is tapped in the plate18'or in the side of the tached end 29 of the cord or-wire 30,0n

body of .the cigarette machine-14,'or other suitable'support. Y 1 QTo'thesheave- 25 is suitably fixed the atwhich freely hangs ajreplaceable,weightBl, -'or equivalent. a p

The center of the sector 17 iscoincident with the axis of the stud 13 onwhich the sec-*' apparent from the above description and it will benotedthat the weight 31"exerts1-an' effective leverage on the idler 15by the'relative movement between the pinion'24 and th'e'secto'r 17, onwhich latter ythe'idler' 15 is carried. Theeffective leverage isadefinite" multiple of the replaceable weight, or equivalent, for allpositions'ofthe idler 1'5" relative to the path of travelfof the belt;Upon variation in the length of the belt the degree of friction betweenthe belts and sides of the forming shoe, the belt is-notwithstandingmaintained at thedesiredtem sion, the idler 15 oscillating aboutthe'center of oscillation of the 's'egmen't17', such oscillation of thesegment "17 oscillating the pinion 24 and sheave 25, with resultant'riseor fall of the weight 31, or equivalent means.

It will be noted that such arrangement' in fori'ne theappended claims.

sures uniform tension in the belt andjis effective at all times,whereas, heretofore "proposed arrangements irequired manual adjustmentupon varied conditions of operation of the beltand associated parts,This advantage is a distinct advance, when the high rate of travel ofthe feeding belt gand. the highoutput ina number of cigarettes formingmachine is by each cigarette borne in mind.

.Whereas Iv have "desoribed'm'y invention by i I reference to specifieforms'thereof, it will be understood that many changes and modi:'fic'ationsmay be made "without departing from the spiritfof theinvention defined 1. The combination of a belt, of means fo'i exerting apredetermined pressureon' said; belt, comprising an idler, a segment,means for mounting saididler on said segment and said segmenti 2. Thecombination with abeltylofmeans for maintaining a determined pressure onsaid belt,icomprism an idler, a segment, Y

1 means foii'exerting a constant pressure on :7 I

means mounting sai idler inf'fixed relation 7 to said segment, a pinion,means for mounting said pinion on a fixed" support, "a sheave, 1 meansforconnecting'said sheave in fixed re la'tion with saidpinion,iand*means for ex ertin'g a predetermined constant force on;

said sheave.

"'3. The combinat-ion withia belt', of an'idler adapted tdengage saidbelt, a. segment,

means for mounting said idler on said segment, a pinion, a fixed studmovably sup-* porting said pinion, 'a-sheave in fixed rela-l" "tion withsaid opinion, a yieldableelement: passing about said sheave and areplaceable weight conneeted-to said yieldable element."

4. The combination with a belt, ot anf yidler, a segment mountedconcentrically with said idler, a second idler, means for mountsaid.segment, 'a pinion and means forexert; ing a constant pressure on saidpinion.

specification this 26th day of May 1919.

. 5 ing saidsecond idler in fixed relation. with" In testimony whereof Ihave. signed this i I 5 ,W ILLIAM F. GRUPE. v

